Posted by Bill Johns on November 07, 2000 at 11:08:43:
This poster makes a compelling argument that the
subtropical recirculation gyres, at least in the Pacific, may
be linked to decadal climate variability. So they are not
just a dynamical curiosity any more. Though the poster
mentions the Latif and Barnett (LB) mechanism for modulating the
PDO, in fact the LB mechanism does not explicitly involve the
inertial recirculation gyre.
This leaves open the very interesting question of whether the
recirculation gyre could amplify air sea interaction effect in the
LB mechanism, if its changes in intensity are directly linked to
changes in intensity of the broader subtropical gyre circulation.
On the other hand, one can think of reasons why the recirculation
gyre might vary independently of the large scale gyre spin up and
spin down. An important question to answer.
Bo is probably working on it already...